


Stay Together

by Angryniall



Category: One Direction, niall horan - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-29
Updated: 2018-09-29
Packaged: 2019-07-20 06:49:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16131899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angryniall/pseuds/Angryniall
Summary: Loosely based on "Stay Together" by Noah Cyrus.Their breakup is imminent, but that doesn't mean they can't enjoy their last night together.





	1. Chapter 1

I’ve been debating breaking up with Niall for months now. The thing with dating Niall is this: When we’re together, things are amazing. I’d even go as far as saying that they’re perfect. He’s fun to be around and always shows you a great time. Even when we’re just lazing around the house, he’ll make dumb commentary about my favorite tv shows and get into debates with me about how realistic the plot is (even though everyone knows I’m not watching CW shows for how realistic they are). When he makes you watch golf or other sports with him, he’s understanding that I know nothing and will explain a bit about why a certain shot was so good and list off the statistics that he’s somehow memorized. Even if I still don’t understand even the basics of the games he watches after dating for two years, he never gets upset over having to explain the same things over and over again.

The issue with dating Niall is that when he’s gone, which is more and more recently, things are terrible. Niall’s so busy with interviews and promos and the tour schedule that our relationship is measured by good morning love you and night, show was great love you texts. He facetimes when he can, but unfortunately the different time zones means that more often than not, I’m waking up at 2 am when I have to be up at 6 for work for a few minutes of talking to him. Most days, I end up falling asleep with him on the line.

I know it’s not fair, to end things with Niall over a part of his job that he loves. But he’s always gone lately. The more that I really start to examine my relationship, the more that I realize that I keep holding onto memories to get me through another few months of hardly talking and hardly seeing each other. Maybe things would be different if you could follow him around on tour. I’d at least have a chance to see him more often than I do. No matter how many times I think about doing that: quitting my job and following him around, I can never make myself do it. I’ve worked hard to get to where I am in my career and I don’t want to sideline that for a man. Even someone as perfect for me as Niall.

It’s easy to keep putting it off. What kind of person ends a two year relationship through text? Or a phone call? Or even facetime? I know I need to do it in person. The issue is, when we’re together in person things are… perfect. And I convince myself that I can get through another 5 months of being miserable and hardly seeing him for the two or three months we’ll have together until he’s off again. Then I head home to the empty apartment and realize that this isn’t working for me and spend the next few weeks until I can get back on tour with Niall thinking about ending things.

Thankfully, this trip to see Niall was always destined to be short. He’s in Belgium for a tour stop and has a day off afterwards. I’m taking the train after work to catch his show and Niall’s been teasing me about having an amazing day together before he’s headed to his next destination and I’m going back to London.

I get to the train station in Brussels and one of Niall’s managers picks me up and takes me to the venue. I’m arriving after the show has already started, but Niall hasn’t gone on yet. I’m led backstage and my heart pounds as I see Niall run towards me in some fitted trousers and a loose tshirt. “Hey babe, glad you could make it.” He throws his arms around me and kisses my cheek. “Although you’re cutting it kind of close, huh?” Niall teases me, although we both know that I would be coming late. The train didn’t even leave London until 6, although I know I’m more just making excuses for why I wish I took off earlier. Seeing Niall again makes me realize that just because I have to do this and end things doesn’t mean that I can’t appreciate the time we have together first. We can give ourselves one last day as a final hurrah.

I don’t realize until too late that I didn’t respond to Niall’s teasing. Niall gives me a look. He always has a way of knowing what I’m thinking. He kisses my cheek, “I really have to go, they can’t do the show without me. I’m glad you made it though.” He rushes off to perform his set. I’m led to the audience, where NIall always has a section for friends and family to watch him. I have to admit, boy knows how to put on a show.

After the show, I meet him backstage and Niall wraps his arms around my waist as I go on and on about his show. “You were so good! The audience loves you and the music was echoing through the theater. I was across the room and I still felt like you were playing right next to me!”

Niall laughs, “Glad you enjoyed it, love.” He kisses my cheek again, “Let me go change and we can grab some food, yeah? I’m fucking starving.” He rushes off to his dressing room and comes back in record time and grabs my hand, “Let’s go?”

We head out to one of the SUV’s that finds us a place that’s still open. They’re more than happy to stay open for Niall and the staff all make sure to get pictures with him. Niall obliges, as he normally does, before we order some chicken tenders and a beer for each of us. Niall wraps his arm around my shoulder, “So, tell me about work? How’s things going?”

I smile and lean into him, getting effortlessly back into our groove as I tell him all about how work is going. I’m a social worker and I’ve been working a lot lately on expanding our program and finding more foster families for the kids who come through us. Niall watches me intently as I talk. He always makes sure I know that he’s listening to every word and really taking it in.

“God, don’t know how you can deal with that everyday.” He says when I finish, “breaks my heart to think of kids in that position, ya know? Wish I could help them all.” I nod and I know if things were different, I’d probably bring up us fostering kids ourselves. I have in the past to him and he’s always seemed into the idea. But I’m always aware that it won’t happen, at least not anytime soon. He’s away so long.

Niall gives that look again and I can tell that he knows that I’m deep in my head again. He sighs and runs his finger along my chin. “Babe, talk to me? Please?” I sigh and place my hand over his, “not here, please? Back at the hotel?” Niall nods and the rest of dinner, I can tell that there’s some tension here. I can almost feel that he knows what’s coming. And maybe he does, Niall’s always had a way of knowing what I was thinking, even when I was too scared to say it.

We finish eating and head back to the hotel. The entire way back, I try to form the thoughts in my head to articulate to him why I’m unhappy. A part of me even thinks that maybe, if I talk to him about it, he can convince me that things will be better, that we can work it out.

Niall and I head into his room, but I’m saved from having to talk about things when he pulls me close to him and kisses me roughly. “God, I’ve missed you.” He says through kisses. “I’ve missed you too,” I tell him, honestly.

He pulls me to the bed and I’m on top of him before I can even think about it. “I can’t wait for tomorrow.” Niall says as his lips are on my neck. I start to forget about breaking up with him and try to pull out this information. “Oh, what’s tomorrow?” I ask him, as my hands are tangled up in his hair.

“Gonna treat you so good.” He mutters as he kisses down my body, “Got a whole day planned. Going to be the best day of your life, hands down.” He teases me. I try to get more information out of him, but he keeps telling me that it’ll be a surprise.

Niall and I end the night with me wrapped in his arms and him pressing kisses to my cheeks. “God, I miss you so much when you’re not here,” he tells me. It’s always easier for us to be vulnerable with each other when we’re spooning. Something about not having to see the other person’s reaction makes it easier.

I rub my fingers along his arm, “It’s really tough when you’re away.” I admit to him. “Sometimes I wonder if we’d even be good together when we have to spend everyday together, rather than short times in between travelling. The whole distance makes the heart grow fonder type stuff, you know?”

I feel his breath catch as he takes that in. Maybe I was right, maybe he’s known all along that I’m ending things. He kisses my shoulder, “I don’t wonder that at all. I know we’re perfect together. You’re my one.” He tells me and I can believe that he means that. Or maybe I just want to believe that he means it.

I nod, “Maybe you’re right…” We lay in silence until I hear his breath soften and I know he’s fallen asleep. I follow pretty quickly after him, falling asleep to my mind racing about what our future looks like if we stay together.

The next morning, I’m awoken to Niall singing in the shower. He’s got his phone playing some soft pop, but he’s singing along as if it’s a pop ballad. I laugh and join him in the shower. “Thought I’d let you sleep in.” He tells me as he gives me small kisses on the mouth.

I shrug, “I did sleep in, but I’m awake now.” He gives me one of his roaring Niall laughs as he hands me the shampoo. I lather up and then wrap my arms around Niall’s neck, “So… you going to tell me what we’re doing today.”

Niall smirks, “Hmmm,” teasing me. I pout and he backs me up against the water, running his hands through my hair to get the shampoo rinsed out. “I’ll tell you the first thing.”

“Perfect!” I smile as Niall kisses my shoulder and whispers against it, “I’m taking you to the Parc de Cinquantenaire. Thought we could go to the art and history museum. Seemed like something you’d like.”

“It is!” I say, excited. He knows that I absolutely love museums. He wraps his arms around me and smile, “then we could stroll through the park, probably eat out on the grass together. Have a real picnic. Maybe feed the ducks.”

I’m already excited. This seems like my perfect day, honestly. “I can’t wait!” I say, hopping out of the shower. I hear Niall laugh as he finishes up and joins me, pulling out some jean shorts from his suitcase.

We head to the museum and he takes my hand as we walk through it. Niall makes me laugh the whole day by reading off the descriptions of each artifact in a confident voice, as if he’s a tour guide who actually knows what he’s saying. He does a good enough job of it, too, as he amasses a group of ten or so people who assume he is a tour guide. He even has one person try to ask him questions about some of the artifacts, which Niall does a great job bullshitting through.

We take a break at lunch and head out to the park. We find a food stand and grab some sandwiches and chips to enjoy by the lake. “So, enjoying your day?” Niall asks. I smile, “I love it. My favorite part was that guy asking you if any of the items in the museum were haunted. He seemed like he was looking to get cursed.”

Niall throws his head back and laughs, “Maybe he was part of one of those lame movies you make me watch. Like he was here a week ago and then switched bodies with some high schooler and so he was trying to find the object to switch them back.”

I giggle, “He did look suspiciously like Rob Schneider…”

Niall laughs at me again before taking my hand, “Let’s go back in, yeah?” I nod and we throw our trash away and he wraps his arm around my shoulders. I smile and lean against him as we work our way through the museum. “This is an amazing day…” I tell him. I know that he works hard and has very few days off, so the fact that he would spend one of them doing this for me is incredible.

The rest of the day, Niall and I are much more lowkey. We mostly look at some of the art and make small jokes to ourselves about the more erotic items and taking bets on which things would be considered ancient dildos.

“Ready to head back to the hotel?” Niall asks me as we’re finishing up the museum. I give him a shocked face and tease him, “Oh? Was that all you had planned for today?” He knows I’m just joking and he laughs, “Not even close, babe.”

We head back to the hotel and when I walk in, I see a black dress and some red heels on the bed. “These weren’t here before.” I look at him suspiciously. He smirks, “Yeah, well I told you I had a whole night planned. Go put them on.”

I change into them and I have to admit, I look good. Niall kisses my neck, “You look good, but wait until you see what your irish model is wearing.” He teases me before heading to the closet to pull out a suit. He gets into it while I freshen up my makeup and when I see him, I can’t help but lose my breath. “Fuck, you look good…” I tell him.

He smiles, “Could say the same about you.” he places a kiss on my cheek and takes my hand, “Now, onto the rest of the night’s festivities.” We head back out to the car and I notice a pair of tennis shoes resting on the seat. “What are those for?” I ask him, which causes him to chuckle, “Impatient as always. You have to wait and see!”

The car starts as soon as we’re inside and I lean into Niall on the way there. “You know you didn’t have to do all of this,” I tell him, “I would have been fine just seeing you today…” He nods and traces circles on my palm, “I know, but you’re so patient about all of this. So understanding that I love my job and don’t want to give up this part of my life. I felt like I needed to treat you and show you how appreciative I am of you sticking around through it all.”

I’m not sure if I look guilty, but Niall doesn’t seem to notice. Or he’s worked on his poker face since i last saw him and is better at hiding it. “Oh we’re here.” He says, pulling me out of my thoughts before I can tell him that he’s giving me much more credit than I deserve.

He leads me into a super romantic restaurant and to a table secluded in the back with a window so we can people watch. They hand us the menu and Niall orders us a bottle of wine. “Oh a whole bottle?” I tease him, “must be a special night.” Niall laughs and mutters, “Not like I couldn’t afford it every night if I wanted.”

I laugh and look through the menu. “You’re not going to do that totally douchey thing where you order for us both without even asking me what I want?” I ask him. He laughs, “No, I know you don’t like that kind of stuff. Even if I probably could do that anyway, since I know exactly what you order at every restaurant we go to.”

It’s true. Niall knows what I like and when he was off tour, we’d go try out different restaurants and Niall would always tell me what he think I’d order before I told him. He was always right, too. Except the one time I tried to prove that he didn’t know me that well and ordered something else and then ended up complaining to him the whole night that I would have rather had what he said I’d ordered.

“So, Horan, what do you think I’d order here then?” I ask him, which causes him to smile. I can tell that he’s thinking about our old routine too as he says, “Manicotti.” without even having to look through the menu a second time. “I got the wine that paired best with it,” He admits, which causes me to sit back in my chair and laugh. “You know me so well…” I tell him, really realizing that I’ve been considering ending this for months now. To end things with the person who knows me better than I know myself.

Niall reaches across the table and takes my hand, “and you know me just as well, darling. You know how to calm me down when I’m having issues with my anxiety, which is insane. It’s like you instinctively know when to talk to me about what I’m feeling and when to distract me and when to just rub my back and let me be… You know that I struggle with being gone so long and I know you wake up at all hours of the night to facetime me during the day. You watch sports with me when I know you don’t care at all and you’re amazing with my family and friends. You’re my perfect person…”

I have so many things I want to tell him. That he’s right, that we work so well together and that we know each other so well, but that I’m just miserable so many months out of the year when he’s touring. I want to tell him that I’ll quit my job to follow him around or ask him to quit his and stay in London with me. So many things that I wish I could tell him, but that I know I just can’t. I can’t give up my career for him and I can’t ask him to give up his career for me. Instead, I just tell him the truth, “you’re my perfect person too.”

He smiles and kisses my hand as the waiter comes and he lets me order for myself, although I do end up getting the manicotti. We eat and even get dessert before heading back to the car. “So, last and final destination for the night. Thought I’d take you dancing.”

I smile. I love dancing and I can always spend hours doing it. “Oh yeah? That sounds perfect.” I smile and kiss him. He smiles, “And I brought you tennis shoes, since I know that you’ll spend approximately one song dancing in your heels before complaining your feet hurt. Then you’ll kick them off and go barefoot before complaining that the floor’s sticky or people are stepping on your feet.” I give him a look, because we both know by people, I mean him. He laughs, “Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I thought I’d get through that process and just bring you tennis shoes.”

I kick off the heels and slide on the shoes, which fit comfortably on my feet. We get to one of the clubs and Niall gets us to the front of the line and inside. He bought a vip booth that’s already preloaded with drinks. We each grab a drink then head down to the dancefloor.

He pulls me close as I grind on him. Niall keeps a firm arm around my waist, partly to keep me near him and partly to stop any other men from trying to dance with me instead. We have a blast, dancing along to songs we recognize and songs we don’t. They play Slow Hands, which causes me to laugh and jump up and down screaming his lyrics to him. Niall laughs and reluctantly sings along. He’s always a bit uncomfortable, always thinking he might be recognized if he sings it in public.

We dance for a few songs before my feet start to hurt, even with the tennis shoes. We head up to our booth and Niall pours me another drink and we sit on the couch. I lean against him, swaying to the music as we drink a bit too much. “You’re so gorgeous,” I tell him as I start to run my hand along his chest, where he’s undone his shirt a few songs ago and his chest hair has been teasing me since.

Niall laughs, “You’re drunk, babe. Maybe I should take you home.” I pout, the alcohol allowing me to be more open than I have since I came here yesterday. “I don’t wanna go home, don’t want this to end.”

Even though Niall’s probably had as many drinks as me, he still looks at me as if he can see right through me. “I know, but it’s got to happen eventually…” He says, taking my hand. I realize in that instant that he’s probably known all along what I was up to. Maybe he did all of this today to convince me to stay or maybe he did it for us to have one more, perfect day together before the inevitable caught up to us.

I nod and we head back to the hotel, more somber now. When we get inside, Niall kisses me again and this time, I know that he knows what’s coming. Niall and I enjoy one more time, which unfairly is probably one of the best nights we’ve spent together in a while. Niall’s asleep almost as soon as we finish and I lean into him, trying to memorize his scent and how soft his stomach feels underneath my cheek.

I wake up before Niall the next morning and just watch him sleep. Niall wakens a few minutes later and he sighs, stretching. “Morning, babe.”

I know I have to do this now. He has another show tonight and I’m surprised he hasn’t already had his management getting him onto the tour bus. Niall sighs, “This is it, isn’t it?”

I nod, “Yeah… how long have you known?” Niall groans, laying on his back and covering his face. “Figured it was coming. Could tell you were upset for a while… knew it was me being gone making you that way. I was just selfish and trying to enjoy you while I could…” He sighs, “I could tell at the show yesterday, the way you were a bit standoffish that it was going to be this trip…”

“I’m sorry…” I offer, but he shakes his head, “It’s ok. I know you’re doing what’s best for you. I love you and I know that you’ve been so selfless, dealing with me always being gone. And now it’s time for me to do the same.” He sighs and gives me a final kiss. “And maybe one day, when this all ends, we can make it work again?” I can tell that it’s more of a hope and we both know that it’s probably not going to happen. He sighs, “Thanks for giving me yesterday. I wanted one last good day with you. Thanks for not ending it immediately.”

I laugh, “Was selfish of me, trying to enjoy you while I could.” I repeat what he told me and he nods, knowing that our relationship was amazing, but over. We say our love yous one last time as we get ready to go for the day. I get on the train and Niall texts me that he’s at their next stop and I let him know I got home safely and that’s where our conversation ends.


	2. Miss You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Four months after their breakup, Niall hasn't been able to get over his lost love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While Stay Together was in the reader's POV, Miss You is in Niall's so you can see how the breakup affected both people.

It’s been four months since she’s ended things and I haven’t been alright at all. I knew for the longest time that she was unhappy with my work schedule. It’s always hard to have a relationship when you have a promo schedule to keep up, not to mention the world tour where I’m gone 9 months out of the year. I kept trying to make it work, but ultimately I knew I wasn’t making her happy. So when I could tell she was finally ready to end things, I let her.

Yet, every night since, I can’t help but wonder if she would have stayed if I fought for her. If I would have begged her to stay, promised to take more time off, anything to keep her.

Since she left, I’ve been a complete mess. It’s hard to love my job when I know it’s the reason I lost the love of my life. I’ve started resenting going out on stage every night. I wish I could just walk away, go back to London and beg her to let me back in my life.

Every night after the show, I go out for a drink with the lads. It used to be a beer or two to celebrate a show or a new city. Now, it’s what I need to forget about the fact that I lost the love of my life. Except, as anyone who’s ever called an ex will tell you, alcohol isn’t good about helping to get over someone.

Most nights, I either end up taking home some random girl from the bar or the show. But it’s weird. Before I met her, I was able to have hookups whenever and it was always great. But there’s just something special about having sex with someone who you love and who loves you back and these hookups are all just hollow and leave me unfulfilled.

Which is why for the other nights, when I can’t bring myself to take a girl back, I end up on the phone with her. She always picks up. It doesn’t matter if it’s 4 am at home, she answers my stupid, drunken call. She hears me tell her how much I love her and miss her and how I want to quit to be with her and I’d do anything if she’d give us another chance. And everytime, she says softly, “You’re just drunk, Ni. Drink some water, call me when you’re sober and we can talk.”

But I never call her when I’m sober. Not that I spend much time sober lately, but when I am, I’m just embarrassed. Because I know that her breaking up with me was doing something for herself. She was trying to find happiness that she couldn’t find when we were together but I was on tour.

It’s hard, because on one hand, I want to be with her again more than anything. But on the other, I know that she’s ended things because she wasn’t happy. It’s just hard to deal with knowing that I wasn’t making her happy.

Tonight is going to be one of those nights where I have to get wasted. It’s one of the “home shows” in London. I went back to my apartment to find all her stuff cleared out. I mean, I guess I should have known she’d move out, but we never discussed it. I expected to come home and find her stuff strewn about with her mumbling sorry and I promise I’ll put everything up later, I just have been busy with work that she’d always give for the place being messy. But when I walked in, every trace of her was gone. All her clothes and possessions and the fresh flowers she kept in a vase in the kitchen, because she said it helped cheer her up. I can’t even smell her scent anymore. I shove my face into one of the pillows and I can’t make any of her floral perfume out. I guess she moved out so long ago, none of it stayed.

We had a picture frame on the side of our bed with pictures of some of our favorite moments: the first date when I took her to the zoo. She spent an hour watching the giraffes and we got a picture of us with the huge plush I got her that she insisted she didn’t need, but that I caught her sleeping with the times I surprised her while I was on tour. Our first Christmas together, when she insisted we get in the spirit and put up lights and made me go carolling which ended with me giving every house we visited an autograph. My favorite date of ours, where she insisted she planned it and she took me to a golf course and paid for me to do 18 holes and she was my caddy and kept making dumb remarks about how nice my butt looked in the pants that I played my worst game ever. It was something I was used to seeing every single time I came home and the pictures are gone. She left the frame though, probably because she assumed I’d bought it, but it’s just a reminder that it’s all gone.

I pick the frame up and throw it against the wall, hearing the glass shatter. Now I can tell she’s really gone and that she has been for a while. I pick up my phone and dial her number. It’s the first time I’ve dialled her sober since she left and strangely, it’s the first time she hasn’t answered. “Fuck.” I say, rubbing my fingers through my hair. “I just came home and you’re gone… Please, i’m sorry. I’ll do anything to make this work. I love you…” I sigh and hang the phone up.

I head to the kitchen and dig through the cabinets until I find four of a six pack in the back that I probably bought for some lads weekend and that we hadn’t finished. I have a show tonight and usually I don’t drink before a show, but I just can’t deal with being here tonight. I down one of the pints almost immediately and I’m on the second when the phone rings. I pick it up, “Hello?” I hope it’s her, but unfortunately it’s just my assistant, asking me where i am. Apparently the soundcheck starts in an hour and I’m not there. “Yeah, yeah, on my way.” I say and hang up before she can even respond.

I finish the drink and call a cab to the venue. I get there just in time to be given my guitar and go out on stage. My hair isn’t even combed, so I just run my fingers through it, trying to make it look presentable as I head on stage. I put on my fake smile and go back to pretending that everything’s fine, that I’m happy, carefree Niall. I answer questions for fans, play a few tunes, joke around a bit. I get so into this person that I’m supposed to be that I’m able to forget how heartbroken I was just an hour ago.

That is, until I see her walk in. She comes about halfway through soundcheck. I should have known she’d be late, she was always the queen of underestimating traffic. She lived in London for 2 years before we met and yet she still always assumed there’d be no traffic or that she’d easily find parking. My breath catches when I see her, as beautiful as she was the last time I saw her. I try to get back into the song, but i can’t stop myself from looking at her, afraid that if I look away, she’ll disappear from my life again. She gives me a small smile as she heads to the back of the group of people and sits down.

I finish the song and have to take questions. I pick a few that were written down and find the ones that I like the most, trying to ignore my heart thumping out of my chest as the minutes feel like days since I can’t just hop off the stage and kiss her like I want to.

I can tell that I’m distracted and not giving the fans the best experience, but I just need to get off this stage right now. I thank everyone for coming and tell them that I’ll see them at the show tonight as I head backstage. I’m practically jumping up and down, anxious as I wait for her to come backstage. I mean, she has to, right? She didn’t come to the venue just to watch me perform and not say anything.

I’m practically pacing when I hear a soft knock on my dressing room door as she peeks her head in, “Hey Ni…” I almost trip over one of the chairs as I try to get to her as fast as I can and kiss her. She runs her hands up my chin as she returns the kiss, but I can feel that this isn’t quite the way she wants this to turn out.

I put my forehead against hers, “Please, don’t break my heart just yet….” I ask her, feeling my voice crack as I allow myself to be vulnerable and feel everything that I have been trying to ignore for the past four months. She nods, placing her hands over mine, “I don’t plan to.”

I look into her eyes and smile, “Ok….” I bite my lip, wanting to stay like this forever, “I have to go do meet and greets… will you please wait for me?” She mumbles of course and I sigh, rushing out to do what I need, knowing that this is probably going to make her remember why she ended things. As I leave the room, I catch a glimpse of her biting her bottom lip and messing around with her hands. It’s always what she does when she’s nervous and I’m scared that it’s because she regrets coming here, seeing that we can’t even have a proper 10 minutes together before I’m off again.

I finally finish all of my commitments and head back to my room, where I find her strumming one of my guitars. “That one was always your favorite, wasn’t it?” She jumps a bit and blushes as she puts it back, “Yeah, it’s the prettiest.” She says and I wait for her to continue, but instead we just both kind of stand there for a bit, both too scared to start the conversation I know we need to have.

“So… you moved out?” I ask her, gingerly trying to start the conversation. She avoids my eyes and nods, “Had to. Everything reminded me of you, of us….” I chuckle, which I can tell surprises her as she looks up and meets my eyes as I tell her, “Had the same reaction this morning when I walked in myself, yeah.”

“Yeah…” She says and I can tell there’s so many things she wants to say but can’t. “Talk to me, please? Even if you tell me that you hate me and just came here to tell me to stop calling you when I’m drunk, it’s better than the silence.”

She starts laughing, hard. Her dark brown eyes fill up with tears from laughing so hard, “NIALL! I’d never tell you that!” She exclaims, moving closer to me and wrapping her arms around my waist. “God, I came here to tell you that I looked forward to your drunk calls. That I started turning my ringer on at night, full blast. That waking up at 3 am to your number on my screen was the highlight of my week most times. And that I’m sorry… I just thought that we were the right couple but the wrong timing and that we could move on, but the thing is, being broken up is even worse than you being on tour. There were no more morning texts, no facetime, no visits when we can manage it. And that I started to realize that I’d rather have you part time than not at all.”

I move in to kiss her again and she just laughs against my lips, “You know, you can talk too, yeah? Don’t need to always get physical with it.” I laugh, pulling her in for another kiss before telling her, “All I’ve wanted for the past four months is you. None of this is worth it if it means losing the love of my life. Maybe I’m just being selfish and wanting the career and the girl, but I’ll do anything I have to to keep you.”

She smiles at me and moves in for the kiss this time, “You don’t have to do anything to keep me, I’m right here and I’m not going to leave again. I promise.” I know that this isn’t going to be easy and that things aren’t going to magically work themselves out, but I also know that we’re better together, even if we’re oceans apart and only connecting a few times a day. She’s my person and I’m hers and the timing may not be perfect, but we’ll stick through it until it is.


End file.
